Texas A&M-S.A. offers free iPad rentals to enrolled vets

By Jennifer R. Lloyd :
July 3, 2012
: Updated: July 4, 2012 3:47am

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Army veteran Sgt. David Guillen plans to start studying business at Texas A&M University-San Antonio this fall with the help of a free iPad rented through a new university program.

Guillen, 31, who injured his back while deployed to Iraq, said he's looking forward to accessing ebooks on the lightweight device rather than lugging around heavy textbooks.

On Tuesday, the university announced that service members, veterans, and family members using Post-9/11 GI Bill educational benefits and enrolling for the first time this fall can rent an Apple iPad 2 for free from the school.

Students must be enrolled full time and meet grade-point average requirements.

The university is hoping to distribute about 250 iPads in this program to help these students access ebooks and other class resources, said Richard Delgado Jr., the university's manager of military relations.

Delgado said the program is similar to a paid rental program already in place at the university's School of Business.

The iPad “makes it easy for the veterans to use. It's a touch screen. It's small,” Delgado said.

“We kind of looked at it for those who are injured as well. It's lightweight and you can basically do anything you need to do with the iPad.”

Guillen said he injured his back when helping to carry a Humvee tire with another man, who tripped and pushed the weight of the tire onto Guillen.

Now on the cusp of completing an associate's degree in business administration at Northwest Vista College, Guillen drops his hefty accounting and math books off at his car so he doesn't have to carry them around the whole day.

“Not having to carry around a heavy backpack, I can see the benefits of that,” said Guillen of switching to reading textbooks in ebook form on an iPad.

Without the rental opportunity, he said he wouldn't be able to invest several hundred dollars in the device while also paying for school.